The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation reported that a record-breaking 8,577 insurance industry volunteers from 76 cities across 30 states provided over 25,000 hours of service to nonprofits during the foundation's Week of Giving.

The foundation's program, held this year from Oct. 10-17, brings insurance industry professionals together for a week-long series of volunteer projects and events. The projects are designed to allow industry volunteers the opportunity to give back to the local communities in which they live and work.

“It is in the nature of the insurance industry to help,” said Bill Ross, the foundation's CEO. “By volunteering, I think we put a face to the industry. You get a chance to meet those individuals who represent the industry directly and by giving back, I think in the collective effort, we’re able to kind of raise our visibility of the industry and of the individuals who make up the industry.”

“I can’t say that we get every single person in the industry to participate but every year we seem to be able to involve more and I think that speaks well of the industry itself, in that it generates achievement by giving back to the community,” he added.

A range of causes

Since 2001, insurance industry volunteers have dedicated 218,722 hours to local nonprofits through the program. The volunteer projects include youth and children services; health and disease issues; women’s issues; elderly care; food service and donation; and disaster preparedness.

“The one that stood out for me this year is a program that is focused on nothing more than writing postcards to servicemen that he or she will receive at the holidays — wishing them a wonderful holiday and thanking them for their service,” Ross told PC360. The program is called “A Million Thanks.” He said one insurance company saw an opportunity to reach out to servicemen overseas. Professionals from the organization took the time to write postcards and thank servicemen for their service.

“I think that it was pretty tremendous to know that hundreds and thousands of cards are going to individuals that are away from their homes and families but receive the note from someone in the insurance industry saying, “Thanks for your service.”

Focus on literacy for children

This year, the Week of Giving placed a strong focus on early literacy programs for underserved youths. Seven early literacy events were hosted nationwide, which featured hands-on interaction with materials from IICF’s "Every Day is a Reading and Writing Day," a free online bilingual program produced with Sesame Workshop. IICF and industry volunteers led hundreds of children through interactive reading and writing activities during these events.

“In the Midwest, over 100 children were hosted under 100 volunteers for a program that focused on early literacy. There were a thousand winter-ready gift packs for homeless veterans in the Illinois area,” said Ross.

During the month of October, IICF ran its "#5forELI" social media-focused fundraising campaign, where people used the hashtag to share their stories of support for early literacy efforts — and direct donations to IICF’s Early Literacy Initiative. All proceeds from this campaign and the Week of Giving were donated to Sesame Workshop and the ELI program.

'An architecture of giving'

“The Week of Giving represents some of the best that the insurance industry has to offer, with insurance professionals from coast to coast rolling up their sleeves to lend a helping hand to their communities and neighbors in need,” noted Ross. “It is truly heart-warming to see vast numbers of industry volunteers across the nation uniting to support such great causes.”

“It is an opportunity that allows us to establish an architecture of giving and volunteering. What’s important to remember is that companies of the industry, already give; some run a volunteer program, many of them do things in their local community. The uniqueness of this program is that we all come together and do it collectively, at once, during that one week of giving, and it’s just that architecture of allowing 6,000 volunteers to touch 87 cities all during the same time period, that is really unique and quite special,” Ross said.

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Trudy Knockless

Trudy Knockless is a reporter on ALM Media's Business of Law desk.  She has a background serving legal and insurance publications. Contact her at [email protected] or on LinkedIn at Trudy Knockless. 

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